Refugee Action Campaign General Meeting
Date/Time
Date(s) - Sat 1 Jun 2019
13:00 - 14:30
Location
Corroboree Park Community Centre
Categories No Categories
Come along to this General Meeting and contribute to the discussion about the next steps for the refugee campaign. We’ve decided to hold this meeting on a Saturday so we can come together as a community in light of the election outcome. Please join us at 12 midday to share a barbeque lunch before the meeting.
Proposed meeting agenda:
- Post-election political and campaign assessment
- Proposals for activities
Election outcome – implications for the refugee rights campaign
Following the unexpected return of the Coalition, it is time for the refugee campaign to take stock.
As the details we sent before the election show, Morrison’s government has worse policies towards refugees than Labor, and a great deal worse than the Greens. So it would not be surprising to find many refugee activists dispirited.
We don’t want to understate the fact that this result is a setback, however, there are some things to take into account.
Firstly, the election was not fought on refugees. It hardly rated a mention during the campaign. So the result is not a vindication for the government on this issue.
Secondly, the reason that it had such a low profile was that the Liberals clearly decided that it wasn’t providing them with traction. During and immediately after the Medivac bill debate, they became predictably hysterical. The law would allow “spivs, rapists and murderers” into the country said McCormack. Morrison made a very expensive trip to Christmas Island for a photo opportunity and pledged $1.4 billion to re-open it. In the past, this might have given them a boost. This time it didn’t. From that point on, they were fairly quiet on it. This reflects the fact that many people have reached the conclusion that after six years of keeping people on Manus and Nauru, “enough is enough”. It is also a consequence of the fact we have kept fighting.
Thirdly, as widely commented upon, the two-party preferred swing to the government was very uneven across the country. It was concentrated in a number of seats in Queensland and Tasmania. Elsewhere, in many urban seats and in Indi, where the refugee issue was raised prominently by the successful candidate, voters moved against the government. In the ACT – of obvious importance to us – there was a significant swing to the Greens in both the House and the Senate. This doesn’t mean that swing was because of the refugee issue – but it does show that more people here were prepared to vote for prominently pro-refugee policies.
Finally, we always knew that, even with Labor in power, there would still be the need for a vigorous campaign to continue. During the election campaign, on Palm Sunday, we had our most successful demonstration ever – with around 4,000 people attending. Our movement is building and the best way to overcome despondency is to continue to build it – as we have been doing through leafletting, letter writing, social media, organising rallies. And we do it by building groups where we are – at universities, in unions, in faith-based, rainbow and other communities. Take the next steps with us together and continue the change.
If you have any queries about any aspect of this email, or about the work of the Refugee Action Campaign, Canberra, get in touch with us at mail@refugeeaction.org
